Simon Glancey has submitted the following:
Sgt. Sowerby was killed when Handley Page Halifax II HX271 HD-V of 466 (R.A.A.F.) Squadron was lost on a mission to bomb rail yards at Trappes. The Halifax crashed at Dannemarie, Yvelines, with the loss of four of the seven crew; the three survivors became P.o.Ws.
Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War: 1944; W.R. Chorley; 1997; Midland Counties Publications; ISBN 0 904597 91 1, page 253
Interviews with two of the survivors in 1945 recorded that the Halifax was attacked twice by night fighters, and the order to bail out was given after the aircraft was badly damaged, out of control and on fire. Sgt. Sowerby was the only R.A.F. member of the crew, the other six crew members being Australian.
Sgt. Sowerby’s death was reported in the Morpeth Herald and Reporter 01/09/1944, page 6.
Blyth Flight Engineer Killed
Mr. and Mrs. F.W. Sowerby, of 26 Worsdell Street, North Blyth, have been informed that their son, Sergt. Frederick William Sowerby, R.A.F., previously reported missing from an operational flight, is now known to have lost his life.
Aged 22, Sergt. Sowerby was a flight engineer and had served in the R.A.F. for three and a half years, having trained in Canada.
He served his time with Messrs Hughes, Bolckow and Company and was employed at Cambois Colliery as a joiner before enlisting. His only sister was serving as a W.A.A.F.
Frederick William Sowerby is remembered in Cambois on C6.03
